The Herbaliser - Blow Your Headphones
A review of Blow Your Headphones, The Herbaliser’s 1997 sophomore effort on Ninja Tune, and a pillar of the Monkey Radio rotation with 13 tracks on the station.
Artist: The Herbaliser · Year: 1997 · Rating: ★★★★★
Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba might be the duo that comprise the London Trip-Hop band The Herbaliser, but for my money it’s vocalist What? What? (aka Jean Grae) that is the face of Blow Your Headphones, the 1997 sophomore effort that was a solid followup to The Herbaliser’s 1995 debut Remedies (also excellent). This album would be worth it for The Blend alone, but she delivers on every track she fronts, including “Hardcore,” the easy winner of “weirdest track on the album” delivering a dose of Beatnik-style spoken word stream of consciousness.
Nonetheless, most of the tracks on Blow Your Headphones are instrumental, and the duo delivers even without Jean Grae’s charisma carrying the tunes. “Shorty’s Judgement” and “More Styles” are grand sample-driven fun. “A Mother (For Your Mind)” is possibly the band’s most popular track of all time, perhaps owed to the fact that it showed up on the legendary K&D Sessions…but the music stands on its own.
Mr. Chombee Has the Flaw
“Mr. Chombee Has the Flaw” deserves a special note: it’s a mix with an array of jazz samples and some solid scratch work. This is a track that caused some confusion on the old playlist, which originally also included a “Mrs. Chombee Has The Flaw” (a reasonable set of crossed wires: another Herbaliser track is “Mrs. Chombee Takes The Plunge”; the 2006 streamdump helped to settle that this was a mislabeling, and not a particularly rare track).
The Ninja Tune sound
This whole album sounds like we all remember Ninja Tunes sounding. These days they might be better known for fairly mainstream electronic acts like ODESZA and Monkey Radio artists Bonobo and The Cinematic Orchestra, but at the time they were a rising label that delivered a wealth of quirky triphop and acid jazz (Coldcut/DJ Food, Luke Vibert, Funki Porcini, and many more). It was a time when instrumental hiphop was flourishing, and (oft-uncleared) scratches showed up in everything, and DJs were aggressively blending genres before the digital revolution made that normal (or profitable, for that matter).
The Verdict
Blow Your Headphones has a whopping thirteen tracks on the Monkey Radio rotation starting all the way back on the 2002 playlist: if you’re a fan of the old station, you heard a lot of this album (even without counting the remixes and DJ spins of key tracks that were also included).
If you like Monkey Radio, you’re probably here for the B-L-E-N-D the Herbaliser is serving. 5/5 stars. Mr. Chombee may have the flaw, but I can’t find one here.
Monkey Radio Tracks: 13/18
- The Herbaliser - The Blend
- The Herbaliser - Another Mother
- The Herbaliser - Ginger Jumps The Fence
- The Herbaliser - Put It On Tape
- The Herbaliser - New + Improved
- The Herbaliser - Intermission
- The Herbaliser - Shocker Zulu
- The Herbaliser - Shortys’ Judgement
- The Herbaliser - More Styles
- The Herbaliser - A Mother (For Your Mind)
- The Herbaliser - Bring It
- The Herbaliser - Theme From Control Centre (Reprise)
- The Herbaliser - End Credits
“Mr. Chombee Has the Flaw” also spun on the station, but it’s counted under Cold Krush Cuts alongside “The Real Killer Part 2 (Rooftop Prowler)” and the No Sleep Vadim! mix of “40 Winks.”
Listen
Also on Bandcamp and Ninja Tune.
